Fourteen tattoo machines among haul of contraband seized in state's prisons

Sunday World

06-05-2025

The revelation comes after fears were raised at the Prison Officer Association's annual delegate conference in Galway that a firearm could be smuggled by drone into an Irish prison
Prisoners' tattoo pens were found in jails across the state, the Prison Officers Association's annual delegate conference was told
Fourteen tattoo machines were among the massive haul of contraband seized in the state's prisons over the last year, the Sunday World has learned.
The revelation comes after fears were raised at the Prison Officer Association's annual delegate conference in Galway that a firearm could be smuggled by drone into an Irish prison.
Addressing this concern, Director General of the Irish Prison Service, Caron McCaffrey, said security of its staff is a top priority for the service.
But she said the rapidly evolving nature of drone advancements has made technological solutions previously adopted often obsolete.
This, she said, has led to the Irish Prison Service securing €5m in funding for steel nets over prison yards that cannot be burned through by drones.
'We have introduced technological solutions,' she said.
'Unfortunately, the rate and the scale in the pace of technological advancement means that no sooner have you a system that it becomes obsolete because technology has changed, so we're going back to basics, and the basics is metal netting over our exercise yards.
'We've done it in Portlaoise in the A Block which has been extremely successful.
'We've done in the D Yard in Mountjoy, and since we introduced that netting in the D Yard there hasn't been a single drone incursion,' she explained, adding that Wheatfield Prison will be next to have steel nets erected over its yard.
'On a regular basis we go internationally to look at what technologies are out there.
'There is not another prison service that we have found that has successfully implemented a system that can keep drones out. That's the issue and that's the difficulty,' she explained.
One prison where a technological solution has been adopted is Guernsey Prison in the UK — where a system known as skyfence has been in operation since 2017.
Speaking with reporters in January, the prison's governor John De Carteret said he's been impressed with the local system which has now been in place for nearly a decade.
'The prison skyfence has been a successful deterrent for Guernsey Prison since it was installed in 2017,' he said.
'It is still being used by the prison alongside other security precautions aimed at mitigating the risk of illicit items being conveyed into the establishment.'
The drone defence system has been triggered intermittently, though not frequently, since 2017.
'I would, and have, recommended drone defence systems to other prisons, primarily because of the significant risk drones present to the safety and security of the custodial environment,' said Mr De Carteret.
'The system was installed as a pre-emptive security consideration due to the then emerging risk of drones to the prison.
'It was part of a larger security upgrade in Guernsey Prison at that time.
'The costs and continuing costs are commercially sensitive but it is invaluable in terms of proving adequate safety and security.'
Contacted yesterday, a spokesperson for the Irish Prison Service said a wide array of technological systems had been reviewed.
Emphasising he was not referring to any one system, he said due to the geographical location of many Irish prisons in built up areas, where drones disabled in the air could pose a danger to the public, such systems had been rejected.
'There are prisons across the estate located directly adjacent to housing estates, major road networks,' he said.
'There are no exclusion zones.
'Any system that could see drones being disabled and losing power outside the prison perimeter would be unsuitable for that reason,' the Prison Service spokesperson added.